The IMF backed giving debt-burdened Greece and Spain more time to reduce their budget deficits, cautioning that cutting too far, too fast would do more harm than good.

Europe’s two biggest aerospace firms BAE and EADS will go back to the drawing board to find new strategies after Germany stymied the world’s biggest arms and aviation company merger.

Japan’s Softbank Corp is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 wireless carrier in the United States, for more than 1 trillion yen, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Canada stock futures traded up 0.3%

U.S. stock futures were up around 0.24% to 0.48%

European shares, were up

COMMODITY PRICE MOVES

Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index rose 0.19%

Gold futures : $1,768.5; rose 0.3%

US crude : $92.11; rose 0.94%

Brent crude : $115.1; rose 0.67%

LME 3-month copper : $8,213.75; rose 0.6%

CANADIAN STOCKS TO WATCH

Enbridge Inc. : The company needs to do a better job of communicating to most British Columbians and other Canadians the merits of its contentious Northern Gateway oil pipeline planned for the Western Canadian province, a senior company official said on Wednesday.

Gasfrac Energy Services Inc. : The oil and gas technology services company said on Wednesday it expected its third-quarter revenue to be $40 million, much below analysts’ expectations, and said it had cut jobs to reduce costs. Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of $58 million.

ANALYST RECOMMENDATIONS

Following is a summary of research actions on Canadian companies reported by Reuters.

Air Canada : CIBC raises target price to $3 from $1.50 on arbitration rulings in the company’s favour and growth potential from the launch of its new low cost carrier in the second half of 2013

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. : CIBC raises target price to $83 from $82, says new initiatives like faster intermodal schedule, return of 3,200 rail cars show CEO Hunter making an early mark

GLV Inc : National Bank Financial raises to outperform from sector perform, says debt levels appear manageable and the company could improve in the second quarter

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